Support NeoGAF

[bigtroyjon]

Article

Paul Allen's Stratolaunch plans to use "the largest aircraft ever constructed" to carry a space rocket to an altitude of about 30,000 feet for an air launch into orbit.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is teaming with aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan to launch a space-travel operation. The plan includes designing and building "the largest aircraft ever constructed," which will carry a space rocket to an altitude of about 30,000 feet for an air launch into orbit, according to advance materials for a news briefing Allen scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The billionaire investor has established a new company called Stratolaunch Systems, based in Huntsville, Ala., to oversee the project. "I have long dreamed about taking the next big step in private space flight," Allen said in a statement. "We are at the dawn of radical change in the space-launch industry."

The idea is to bring airport-like operations to the space-launch business, initially carrying commercial and government payloads, and later passengers.Plans call for a first flight within five years.

Edit- Article has been updated a little bit, not surprising but there are a lot of former NASA involved with this.

Stratolaunch's chief operating officer and technical director is Susan Turner, another NASA veteran who most recently worked at the Space Technology Program at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, also a Stratolaunch board member, joined Allen and Rutan at the Seattle news conference. Rutan said more than 100 people are already working on the project, and it will see a significant ramp-up as it moves deeper into the engineering and manufacturing phases. The first jobs will be in Alabama, California and Florida.

Video showing how it works.

 

[CHEEZMO™]

 

[TheMan]

meh

 

[Karma Kramer]

first post wins lol

 

[planar1280]

would be much cheaper to use tethering and laser to push the rocket up in space very slowly and once it reaches the outer perimeter of earth, rockets can be used to get it out of the gravitational pull. Lots of fuel will be saved.

 

[xbhaskarx]

Isn't Paul Allen having some pretty serious health/medical issues? I believe he's about to sell off his sports teams (TrailBlazers, Seahawks)...

 

[D4Danger]

Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God, it even has a watermark!

 

[Clevinger]

Meh.

Also, it doesn't even begin testing until 2016.

 

[bigtroyjon]

Isn't Paul Allen having some pretty serious health/medical issues? I believe he's about to sell off his sports teams (TrailBlazers, Seahawks)...

There is no actual evidence that he is selling his teams although it wouldn't surprise me if he sold the trailblazers due to the NBA being a money sink for him.

 

[reilo]

Isn't Paul Allen having some pretty serious health/medical issues? I believe he's about to sell off his sports teams (TrailBlazers, Seahawks)...

He was re-diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma a couple of years ago but has had a clean bill of health since.

He's not selling either franchises. Not in the foreseeable future at least.

 

[akira28]

I'm thinking the disconnect phase would be pretty damn tricky. Unless they're going to use some kind of flight arc to point it upward. Be one hell of a bust if it rolls over and starts shooting towards the ground at escape velocity.

 

[zomaha]

Virgin Galactic is already doing this.

 

[ConfusingJazz]

Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God, it even has a watermark!

I found out the other day that Paul Allen's card misspelled "Acquisitions".

 

[delta25]

In all honesty I'd rather see people spending money on stuff like this then to fund some unnecessary war or bail out a bunch of pompous fucktards.

 

[Joates]

I'm thinking the disconnect phase would be pretty damn tricky. Unless they're going to use some kind of flight arc to point it upward. Be one hell of a bust if it rolls over and starts shooting towards the ground at escape velocity.

Yes it would be, but dont most rockets meant to go into space have guidance systems assuring they get there?

I mean its not, "point it up and hope it stays that way"...

 

[akira28]

They need guidance systems but most rockets only have stabilizers and fins to control the upward direction and arc. If it's too wildy off course ie. somehow pointing downward, there's not a lot of chance it can correct its course and still make it into orbit. I mean even with some kind of thrust vectoring, you really don't want it to point at the ground.

 

[Tapiozona]

would be much cheaper to use tethering and laser to push the rocket up in space very slowly and once it reaches the outer perimeter of earth, rockets can be used to get it out of the gravitational pull. Lots of fuel will be saved.

Probably be 10000 times more expensive to use a space elevator. Plus the technology doesn't exist to do it either. The strength of the cable needed is beyond anything that can be mass produced. I read something about Carbon Nanotubes but they only exist in very very small quantities and are very expensive.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

would be much cheaper to use tethering and laser to push the rocket up in space very slowly and once it reaches the outer perimeter of earth, rockets can be used to get it out of the gravitational pull. Lots of fuel will be saved.

Lasers and their reactants are not cheap. Have you run numbers or are you just guessing?

 

[TheJollyCorner]

lol perfect

 

[Angry Fork]

lol shit I was going to post this.

 

[mickcenary]

Haha. Sonofabitch. I was going to post Bateman, axe-wielding in a raincoat.

"YES, IT IS!"

 

[Wray]

Probably be 10000 times more expensive to use a space elevator. Plus the technology doesn't exist to do it either. The strength of the cable needed is beyond anything that can be mass produced. I read something about Carbon Nanotubes but they only exist in very very small quantities and are very expensive.

Carbon Nanotubes would be able to do it, but they are still very new and can get alot stronger once we get better nanotech.

 

[Clydefrog]

 

[bigtroyjon]

Youtube video showing how it works

 

[akira28]

Ok it has stabilizer wings. Never mind then.

 

[MutFox]

Youtube video showing how it works

Imagine the rocket not going off after the plane lets go...

Also... The rocket leaves more space junk?
That's a growing issue right?

 

[Aesius]

This is a slightly less impressive achievement than when he got an 8:30 res at Dorsia on a Friday night.

Great sea urchin ceviche there.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Virgin Galactic is already doing this.

Yeah, its actually a rip off of Burt Rutan's design. Hey so who's designing this ship...ooooh.

 

[DiscoJer]

Virgin Galactic is already doing this.

Yes. It's actually the same guy who (help) designed the plane, too (Burt Rutan).

The difference is, this is much, much bigger - the biggest plane ever (bigger than the Spruce Goose).

That's what I think people are missing - it's big. Really really big.

 

[The Outsider]

Goddammit. Exactly what I was going for.

 

[Orayn]

I really, really hope this project makes progress. We need better, cheaper, safer ways of delivering payloads to orbit, and we need them yesterday.

 

[bigtroyjon]

Yes. It's actually the same guy who (help) designed the plane, too (Burt Rutan).

The difference is, this is much, much bigger - the biggest plane ever (bigger than the Spruce Goose).

That's what I think people are missing - it's big. Really really big.

65 feet wider than the Goose.

They've added to the article some more, thought this was interesting.

Allen noted that Russia charges $63 million per seat to spaceflight passengers such as his friend, fellow Microsoft billionaire Charles Simonyi, who has taken the tourist trail into space twice.

Also estimate Allen will end up investing around $250 million.

 

[shadyspace]

Dat first post.

 

[Gila]

This blew my mind that he's Jared Leto

 

[Game-Biz]

He was re-diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma a couple of years ago but has had a clean bill of health since.

He's not selling either franchises. Not in the foreseeable future at least.

Oh, so the good Hodgkins...

 

[Guevara]

The Stratolaunch came out of the hangar for the first time yesterday

 

[HStallion]

Now that's how you do a necrobump.

 

[theWB27]

The Stratolaunch came out of the hangar for the first time yesterday

That's massive. Damn.

First thing i thought was how long would this take. Ah... the thread is 6 years old.

 

[SwiftDeath]

Well it certainly looks like the mock up

Can't wait until they do a test flight with a rocket

Space X has some competition it seems

 

[BlastProcessing]

The Stratolaunch came out of the hangar for the first time yesterday

That is a big fucking airplane.

 

[hiryu64]

Spoiler

His name was Paul Owen in the book.

 

[Enduin]

I found out the other day that Paul Allen's card misspelled "Acquisitions".

All of their cards do.

Edit: Welp that's an old as fuck post. And that plane does not seem structurally sound. Is that connecting beam/mid-wing strong/flexible enough to withstand whatever stresses it will likely endure?

 

[zethren]

Holy shit that flashback.

I just traveled forward in tiiiiiime

 

[Jombie]

There are more important problems than ambitious space travel ventures to worry about.

 

[HStallion]

There are more important problems than ambitious space travel ventures to worry about.

Good thing the entire world isn't focusing all their time and resources entirely on space travel.

 

[cdyhybrid]

There are more important problems than ambitious space travel ventures to worry about.

Good thing people can do more than one thing at a time.

 

[jstripes]

The Stratolaunch came out of the hangar for the first time yesterday

That's a hell of a wind farm they've got.

There are more important problems than ambitious space travel ventures to worry about.

Like posting on a video game forum?

 

[Lothars]

There are more important problems than ambitious space travel ventures to worry about.

So? Doesn't mean it's not important to do this as well.

 

[Host Samurai]

Dat first post.

Such a strange looking ship to send in space

 

[John Kowalski]

There are more important problems than ambitious space travel ventures to worry about.

Yeah. I mean, space is nice and all but i have videogames to play and they need graphics, who's going to invent new graphics to play videogames with while everyone's doing space stuff?